The suspect, identified by police as 34-year-old Arthur Martunovich, walked into the buffet near Emmons Avenue and East 19th Street in Sheepshead Bay just after 5 p.m., first attacking the owner at the front of the restaurant, then going to the back where he hit the chef and worker, according to police.

All three victims were taken to NYU Langone Hospital - Brooklyn in critical condition. That's where the chef, later identified as Fufai Pun of Brooklyn, was pronounced dead.

Samantha Randazzo, the owner of Randazzo's Clam Bar next door, said a worker from the buffet came running in to warn them about the tool-wielding suspect.

"A couple of people, customers from the restaurant, came in here, and we let them in and they said a guy came in crazy with a hammer and started hammering certain people, random people," Randazzo said.